Wrestling Globe Newsletter by Mike Aldren – All the latest professional wrestling news and analysis direct to your inbox. WGN is read by industry power players, many top wrestlers and thousands of fans from around the world.

The European tour continues today with Raw in Lille, France and Smackdown in Hannover, Germany. There may be some travel issues as many airports in Europe today are shut down due to volcano eruptions in Iceland, which has sent harmful volcanic ash up into airspaces.

Ezekiel Jackson underwent quadriceps surgery on Tuesday in Birmingham, AL and is expected to require six months of recovery time.

Matt Hardy was diagnosed with a deep bruise to his biceps but there was no tear so he’s happy about that.

Comedian Chelsea Handler on her E! show Chelsea Lately, ripped David Hasselhoff and wrestling fans last night after Hasselhoff hosted Raw calling him a “Hoff-hole”. Said Handler: “I do have one deep, dark secret. No, I do not have a secret love child or a penis. No, I, Chelsea Lately, am a fan of professional wrestling. Everybody knows I enjoy those over-sized meaty bodies, but what I really get hooked on is the masterful storytelling and subtle acting techniques. The other night when I tuned into WWE’s Monday Night Raw, I was pissed. Someone made a guest appearance and reigned on my sweat Speedo parade. Check out this jackass… I shouldn’t be so surprised that he made this appearance, this wienerschnitzel knows his demo. The same people who think wrestling is real think he’s a real lifeguard.”

A story in the UK Daily Record on Drew McIntyre talks about his relationship with Tiffany (Taryn Terrell). The story notes that Tiffany met his family for the first time on the European tour after getting engaged last year, and they may have their wedding in May, possibly in Scotland. He said, “From the moment Taryn and I met just over a year ago, we clicked. It was a fantastic moment and our relationship has just got better and better.” McIntyre’s mom was also quoted. “I’ve spoken to
(Tiffany) on the phone and she sounds like a lovely girl. She’s a real stunner. Drew’s a lucky lad. It would be fantastic if they tied the knot in Scotland but he’s been keeping things under wraps. It would be just like Drew to spring a surprise wedding on us at the last minute. He’s always on the road and his plans are never set in stone but it will be lovely to see him. I miss him loads but I always knew he would end up living a jet-set lifestyle. He always wanted this and I’m just so happy that he’s living out his dream.”

Daniel Bryan noted in his blog that he’s suffering from a fever and was really sick at the TV tapings this week. He wrote that he was unhappy with his promo on NXT. “It didn’t help that Matt Stryker interrupted me, but its not like I was going to light the world on fire anyways. When he said ‘passion,’ the idea that ran through my head was this: Explain the Daniel Bryan Manliness Meter. Describe one thing I’ve done that was really manly (in 2007 I detached my retina in a match and then continued fight for another ten minutes). Say that not only was that manly but it shows the passion I have. My closing line was going to be, ‘Passion is what got me here, and passion will take me home.’ It’s a line I’ve heard somewhere else, but I can’t remember where. Alas, I never got there and I didn’t feel like I had enough time after the interruption, so I just went for a cheap crowd reaction. And I DO love England! As a side note, I saw Vickie Guerrero later in the evening and she said, ‘You sucked tonight.’ Nothing to boost the old confidence like constructive criticism.” He also talked about being thrilled working with Regal but wished they had longer than two minutes.

Regarding promos on NXT, Chris Jericho wrote on his Twitter: “To truly make it in the WWE, you have to be able to adapt to any situation and be ready for anything every time you step into the ring. Sometimes you have to add five mins onto a match with no notice. Sometimes injuries occur and you have to change things on the fly… And sometimes you have to cut a 30 second promo about toothpaste. The best can go with the flow and succeed in all situations and that’s why the NXT Rookies had the talk off this week and that’s why it was a very important and relevant segment.”

NXT on Tuesday night did a 1.0 rating and 1.2 million viewers.

WWE will release their first quarter earnings results on 5/6 with a Vince McMahon hosted conference call that morning. These calls aren’t as much fun as they used to be since WWE started screening callers and only allowing soft ball questions from certain people.

Mattel are releasing a special Undertaker action figure for the San Diego Comic Con this summer… Speaking of Taker, as things stand he is off house shows now until 6/19 at Madison Square Garden, but will be working some TV and PPV in a limited capacity.

WWE and Best Buy have reportedly signed a Blu Ray distribution deal.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING

As noted yesterday, Jim Cornette published an email promo he wrote to TNA Director of Talent Terry Taylor and the response he received from TNA’s lawyers for what they viewed as “terroristic threats” towards Vince Russo. Cornette talks in depth about what led to the situation at http://whosslammingwho.podomatic.com/ explaining that the legal package he received contained the original email he sent, but showed that Taylor forwarded his message to Russo, so he views Taylor as “a stooge” and believes Russo pushed for legal action. He said he was venting to Taylor in a personal email and feels betrayed by his former friend of 30 years.
Russo is reportedly planning to move from Colorado to Nashville to be closer to the office. He’s also been telling people lately that he’s burned out on writing television and feels frustrated at tapings because people complain about their segments too much which leads to re-writes on the day of the shows.

Eric Bischoff on Cornette from his Facebook page: “Cornette doesn’t know any business. He is a low rent con man that is only good at gaining the attention of the internet wrestling community. He’s all yours! Trust me, he never has nor ever will become a part of a meaningful national promotion. But if you are looking for a bootleg DVD or a fake autograph… he’s your guy!”

A lot of people have been praising Bischoff of late, especially after going on the house show loop last weekend. People were leery of his presence but noted that Russo has never attended a loop, which considering he’s head writer is just mind boggling.

No decision has been made yet from Howard Stern’s people regarding “Hulk Hogan Uncensored” becoming a regular radio gig on Sirus. We did get a detailed report from Monday night. Some total BS from Hogan here and bare in mind he was drinking Miller Lite during the show. The Wrestlemania 3 story is now that he tore his lat as well as his biceps and quadriceps doing the famous bodyslam on 700lb Andre the Giant.
During that time he said he was wrestling 400 matches per year claiming he did double-shots on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. I guess that’s a better explanation than in his book where he claims he did all these shows due to flying backwards and forwards across international timezones. He claimed in WCW that Chris Kanyon used to call him all the time and confessed he was gay and was always worried about it getting out. He also claimed his movie career never took off because a gay Hollywood producer came onto him in his 20s and blackballed him after he refused his advances. The best story he told was claiming that one time Ed “Brutus Beefcake” Leslie stayed at his house with a female who was giving him a blow job. He claimed Linda’s mom walked in on Beefcake during the night and was convinced that she saw Hogan giving the blowjob to Beefcake. You can’t even make this stuff up. Well, I guess you can…

Indie wrestler J.T. Lightning (James Hasse, 40) out of Cleveland, OH was
just diagnosed with cancer.

Nick Dinsmore Pro Wrestling Training Class will begin its very first
semester on 5/11. Nick, formerly WWE’s Eugene, has 14 years of
professional wrestling experience and 9 years of training experience. He
has helped train over 100 of the wrestling stars seen today. The class
will meet two times a week for 10 weeks in Louisville, KY at the OVW
Davis Arena. The class is designed for all experience levels. Cost is
$1000. For more info email [email protected] and we will forward
your message or go to www.ovwrestling.com.

Torrie Wilson is busy working on a few new projects including some
possible reality shows and movies. She’s one of the few people that has
shied away from wrestling-related bookings since leaving WWE a few years
ago.

Dawn Marie‘s www.wrestlersrescue.org canceled their planned July charity
cruise. “It has come to our attention that there is a similar cruise
event being held within a month of our event. Due to the fear of not
having enough participants because of this we are withdrawing our
fundraiser cruise. We hope to plan another trip similar to this in the
near future. We will keep everyone posted. Thank you for your continued
support and understanding.”